When You Reach Me meets Back to the Future in this emotional middle grade novel about becoming your own person.

 

After a disastrous first week of seventh grade, Beth wishes she could ask her mom for advice. But all she has are the letters that her mom left behind before she died, one for each year from kindergarten through twelfth grade. And unfortunately, this year’s letter doesn’t have any tips on getting detention twice, majorly disappointing your dad, fighting with your best friend, or what to do when it seems like everyone wishes you were someone else. It only tells her what Beth has always known: unlike Beth, her mom was great at everything, including seventh grade.

 

But the letter is more than it seems. After falling asleep with it under her pillow, Beth wakes up in 1999 where she meets Chloe—her mom—as a seventh grader. Chloe is everything Beth imagined: smart, responsible, a good friend. If Beth can learn to be exactly like Chloe, she knows she can turn her year around. But when Chloe ends up not being as perfect as she seems, Beth begins to see her mom in a new light—and must decide for herself who she wants to be.